Have you been getting a lot of email notices for updated privacy policies? Well, it’s not a coincidence. Many companies are updating or clarifying their online privacy policies to be compliant with the new European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which will technically take effect on May 25, 2018.

What is the GDPR?

GDPR was designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, protect EU citizens’ data privacy, and to regulate the way organizations approach data privacy. There are a total of 99 articles that the regulation covers and you can read more about the details of this regulation through the EU GDPR Portal.

In essence, these are a series of regulations that control what information a company can collect about an individual (who reside in the EU), what they can do and how they store that information, and penalties for those companies if they violate the regulations.

Who is affected by GDPR?

From a user perspective, the protections cover any resident of the EU. Although, many companies are voluntarily extending their changes and privacy policies to include all users for simplicity.

From a company perspective, it applies to any organization who collects data on EU residents.

What should you know about GDPR, encryption, and your PDF files?

There are many more thorough sources of information on this topic (just Google ‘GDPR’), but one thing that may concern our Win2PDF customers is that the regulation restricts sending personal information unsecured. Encryption isn’t explicitly mandated by the regulations, but it is suggested several times as being part of the the compliance solution. For example, as this article points out:

…of the 261 pages of GDPR, the word ‘Encryption‘ appears just 4 times;

“…implement measures to mitigate those risks, such as encryption.” (P51. (83))“…appropriate safeguards, which may include encryption” (P121 (4.e))“…including inter alias as appropriate: (a) the pseudonymisation and encryption of personal data.” (P160 (1a))“…unintelligible to any person who is not authorised to access it, such as encryption” (P163 (3a))

Does the term ‘may’, ‘such as’ and ‘as appropriate’ indicate that Encryption is mandated by GDRP, as some are suggesting? I don’t believe it does.

Do these terms suggest that Encryption is an OPTION and a good idea? Then yes, it does.

If you are sending a customer’s personal information in a PDF file, you should seriously consider encrypting the PDF.

What can you do to being compliant with GDPR?

First, here is a 12-point PDF available that gives a broad 12-step overview to achieving compliance with the GDPR.

Second, you may wish to review your current processes involving customer data that may be included in PDF files that you generate. How are they disseminated? Is the data secured? If you do not currently encrypt PDF files, now may be a good time to do so.

Hooray! Even though we’ve been in business over 18 years, we just received our official 10-year certification as an accredited business from the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Our company — Dane Prairie Systems (the creator of the Win2PDF software) — has an A+ rating. To be an accredited BBB business we have to abide by this code of business practices.

There’s a lot of concern these days about who you are doing business with online, if they are trustworthy, and how they are treating you as a customer (with good reason). One thing that contributes to our A+ rating is the fact that we do not bundle adware, spyware, or malware — you just get our Win2PDF software when you purchase from us. Nor do we share or sell your email address or customer information with any other companies (unless you explictly opt-in, of course, for things like online reviews). You can review our policy policy or view our rating with the Better Business Bureau. And if you have any questions about how we do business, please let us know.

Thanks to our customers, we’ll continue to be your trusted software source for the next decade.

After our last post about using Google Docs to convert a PDF file to Word, we had a couple of reader comments asking, “Why don’t you just use Microsoft Word to convert the PDF file directly?”

Great question. We used the Google Docs method of conversion because it was completely free and did not rely on the use of a commercial program. But, since so many users have Microsoft Word already, we should explain how it can be used to convert a PDF file much more easily.

First, open your Microsoft Word program. (Note: Your interface may look slightly different depending on which version of Microsoft Word you are using). Then, select Open and choose the PDF file you wish to convert.

Second, once you choose the PDF file, you will get a message in Word stating the file will be converted to an editable Word document.

Lastly, once the conversion is complete, you can just edit the file directly, or save it out as a newly formatted Microsoft Word file.

And that’s it. If you already have a newer version of Microsoft Word, this method seems to work better than the Google docs method we described in our previous blog post. And, it bears repeating, if you don’t want your PDF files to be modified or converted to Word, you can encrypt the files to prevent changes using our Win2PDF Pro version of the Win2PDF software.

This article about Paul Manafort made the headlines the other day, and it got us wondering: How many people know how to convert a PDF file to a Microsoft Word document? Do you?

While there are some specialized commercial programs that do this conversion, there are also free alternatives available. One of the easiest methods is to use Google Docs to do the conversion from PDF to Word. Here are the basic steps:

1. Open the PDF file in Google Drive

From a Gmail account or any other Google app, click on the Google Apps icon. This will allow you to open another Google app associated with your account, including Google Drive.

On May 2nd, Microsoft released a special version of its Windows 10 operating system called “Windows 10 S“.

What is it?

Windows 10 S is essentially a special version of Windows 10 that is aimed primarily at the education market. Microsoft touts that Windows 10 S is streamlined for security and performance. It is available on many newer, lower-priced devices similar to the Chrome OS devices, which is what this version of Windows is designed to compete against. For those of you that remember the short-lived Windows RT operating system, in many respects Windows 10 S seems like an updated version of RT.

If it’s more secure, is it better than Windows 10?

Not necessarily. It depends on who you are and what you need your operating system to support. Just like the Chrome OS devices, this version of Windows locks down the ability for users to install software outside of the Windows store. In doing so, Microsoft can prevent many types of viruses and malware from being introduced on the device. It also, unfortunately, will block out useful utilities supported by Windows 10 that cannot be installed on the Windows 10 S desktop.

The cost the user pays, of course, is that they are limited to only apps available through the Microsoft Store. If you want to use the Chrome or Firefox web browsers, for example, you will not be able to in Windows 10 S — you’ll be limited to only using Microsoft’s Edge browser. Many other types of 3rd party desktop applications will not be available either.

Microsoft is targeting Chrome OS users, and the education market in particular. These types of users generally are just running simple programs and using cloud-based applications and services for their primary computer needs. In education markets in particular, this offers a fast and easy way to deploy devices and keep them relatively secure for basic applications.

Will Win2PDF work with Windows 10 S?

No, not at this time, for the reasons listed above. Win2PDF installs as a Windows printer, which allows it to be used from any application. Since it isn’t a typical standalone desktop application, it’s not possible to package Win2PDF to be available in the Microsoft Store.

If you are using Windows 10 on a newer PC, you may have noticed some new changes recently. The Windows 10 Creators Update was released on April 11th and contains a series of updates and enhancements to the Windows 10 operating system.

What is it?

This update contains a series of user-based interface changes to the Windows operating system. Most of the enhancements in the Windows 10 Creators Update are focused on 3D sketching, remixing and viewing, new gaming features, more expansive immersive headset support, better tab handling in Microsoft Edge, improvements to Cortana (Microsoft’s voice assistant), and several other privacy, security, and usability features.

Newer Windows devices with touch-screen interfaces and VR headsets will likely get the most benefit from this operating system update.

To see a complete overview of the features, visit Microsoft’s blog post on Windows 10 Creators Update. A short video describing the changes is also available on YouTube:

How do I get it?

This update will be automatically rolled out in a phased approach as a normal Windows update, starting with newer Windows 10 devices first, and then eventually pushed to everyone. You can manually download the update now, however, if you wish. You can read more about getting the update at Microsoft’s blog.

How much does it cost?

The Windows 10 Creators Update is free for existing Windows 10 users. Microsoft has previously made Windows 10 free for everyone, but that’s not the case now. Windows 7 users have to pay to upgrade to Windows 10.

What impacts are there with Win2PDF or PDF?

There are no specific new features, but there were some changes needed for our installation program. We’ve updated our Win2PDF software to version 10.0.17 for full support and these are available now at our Win2PDF download page.

This is a free Win2PDF update for users of Win2PDF version 7 users and higher. If you have any questions about this 10.0.17 update or observe any issues or problems, please let us know at support@win2pdf.com.

Since we first introduced Win2PDF on Windows NT over 16 years ago, we have been committed to supporting new Windows operating system releases as soon as they are released.